Frederick Douglass on His Arrival in New York City

I have often been asked, how I felt when first I found myself on free soil. And my readers may share the same curiosity. There is scarcely anything in my experience about which I could not give a more satisfactory answer. A new world had opened upon me. If life is more than breath, and the 'quick round of blood,' I lived more in one day than in a year of my slave life. It was a time of joyous excitement which words can but tamely describe. In a letter written to a friend soon after reaching New York, I said: 'I felt as one might feel upon escape from a den of hungry lions.' Anguish and grief, like darkness and rain, may be depicted; but gladness and joy, like the rainbow, defy the skill of pen or pencil.

~Frederick Douglass, 1882
From “Life and Times of Frederick Douglass”

By Caitlin Hawke

Bank Street Bookstore has a window that stopped me in my tracks the other day (below). Their celebration of Black History month heralds: "Black History: Honoring the Past, Inspiring the Future." And "Informing the Present," I would add. It's a very beautiful display.

Besides being a wonderful haven of literacy and for childhood, Bank Street is a pillar of our local small business community. They moved into the spot at the northeast corner of W. 107th Street and Broadway (near the ghost of Schrafft's past) replacing Academy Florist several years ago. And god it's good to have them there.

They have lots of events, but the free daily storytime at 10:30 a.m. and the Sunday puppet shows by Fractured Fables are a toddler must.